Childcare

Contributed by Melissa Crain-Serrano

Recently I've had several friends inquire about daycare for their children and they have discussed with me the trials and tribulations of finding a good provider. We've been lucky with the people who have cared for our girls and we are also lucky enough to be able to afford what we choose, rather than taking whoever costs the least. Not too long ago I had another friend discussing the requirements of time off and such for an in-home daycare provider who was about to open. They asked people to give their thoughts on this and several replied. What amazed me was just how ridiculous daycare providers have become. They want to be treated as if they run their own business and get all those benefits, and yet, they don't want to follow basic customer service because it's "their" home and not a business office. You can't have both. Either it's a business and you run it as such, or it's a side-job/hobby and you run it that way. OR, become a nanny and don't deal with it at all.

To give you an example, here is a list of the most common requirements that I have heard/seen from providers:

1. Two weeks' paid vacation

2. Five paid sick days

3. All holidays off - paid

4. The day before all holidays off - paid

5. The day after all holidays off - paid

6. An extra day off if the holiday lands on a weekend - paid

7. Four personal days off - paid

8. Children who are sick are not allowed at the discretion of the provider, but parents' must still pay.

9. If children are not present for any reason, parents must still pay

10. 5 day notice is required for provider to take time off

11. Parents must give a 2 week notice before taking time off, but they still must pay.

Average price for a full time child is roughly $175, give or take which equals $35 per day. Let's use the 2010 calendar and the example above.

January 1st, must be paid, although there is no child care. Considering most parents don't work this day, it's just a regular $35 day of pay.

January 4th must be paid, although there is no child care. The day after the holiday lands on a Saturday, therefore the provider is closed on Monday. Since the parents don't get Monday off, they must pay $35 to the provider and another $35 to an alternative provider.

January 15th, 18th and 19th must be paid, although there is no child care due to MLK Jr. Day. Since the day before the holiday is a Sunday, the provider receives the Friday (15th off) as well as the day after the holiday (the 19th). We'll give the benefit of the doubt that the parents' have this day off (even though most do not). That still means that they must pay $70 to the provider for two days without service and another $70 to another provider for backup service.

February 12th, 15th, and 16th must be paid, although there is no child care due to President's Day. Since the day before the holiday is a Sunday, the provider receives the Friday (12th off) as well as the day after the holiday (the 16th). We'll give the benefit of the doubt that the parents' have this day off (even though most do not). That still means that they must pay $70 to the provider for two days without service and another $70 to another provider for backup service.

March 22nd- 25th must be paid, although there is no child care due to provider's vacation. Parents must pay $175 for the provider and another $175 for a backup provider.

April 5th must be paid, although there is no child care due to Easter. We'll give the benefit of the doubt to the provider and say they don't close for the Friday before Easter, only the Monday after. Most places are not closed, so the parents will pay the $35 to the provider and another $35 to a backup provider.

May 28th, 31st & June 1st must be paid, although there is no care due to Memorial Day. Since the day before the holiday is a Sunday, the provider receives the Friday (28th off) as well as the day after the holiday (the 1st). We'll give the benefit of the doubt that the parents' have the Monday off since most do. That still means that they must pay $70 to the provider for two days without service and another $70 to another provider for backup service.

June 14th-18th must be paid, although there is no care due to provider's vacation. Parents must pay $175 for the provider and another $175 for a backup provider.

July 2nd, 5th & 6th must be paid, although there is no care due to the 4th of July Holiday. Since the day before the holiday is a Saturday, the provider receives the Friday (2nd off) as well as the day after the holiday (the 5th) and another day (the 6th) due to the fact that the 4th fell on a Sunday. We'll give the benefit of the doubt that the parents' have the 5th off. That still means that they must pay $70 to the provider for two days without service and another $70 to another provider for backup service.

Luckily, August has no holidays!

September 3rd, 6th & 7th must be paid although there is no care due to Labor Day. Since the day before the holiday is a Sunday, the provider receives the Friday (28th off) as well as the day after the holiday (the 1st). We'll give the benefit of the doubt that the parents' have the Monday off since most do. That still means that they must pay $70 to the provider for two days without service and another $70 to another provider for backup service.

October 8th, 11th & 12th must be paid although there is no care due to Columbus' Day. Since the day before the holiday is a Sunday, the provider receives the Friday (15th off) as well as the day after the holiday (the 19th). We'll give the benefit of the doubt that the parents' have this day off (even though most do not). That still means that they must pay $70 to the provider for two days without service and another $70 to another provider for backup service.

November 24th, 25th, & 26th must be paid although there is no care due to Thanksgiving. We'll give the benefit of the doubt that parents have the 25th and 26th off, and therefore they only need to find alternative care for the 24th which equals $70 ($35 for the provider and $35 for the alternative).

December 23rd, 24th, 27th & 28th must be paid although there is no care due to Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. We'll give the benefit of the doubt that hte parents don't work on the 24th and receive the 27th off for Christmas. This means that for the 23rd and 28th, the parents must pay $70 for the provider and $70 for a backup service.

December 30th, 31st must be paid although there is no care due to New Year's Eve. We'll give the benefit of the doubt that the parents don't work on the 31st. This means that for the 30th the parents must pay $35 for hte provider and another $35 for a backup service.

Let's just add that up. That's a total of $1995, which equals 57 PAID days off for the provider, plus, let's remember they also expect 5 days of sick time and 4 days of personal time so the real total is $2310 and 66 days. That doesn't include the actual holidays themselves, which I think they should have a right to be paid and take the day off (for the major ones). I'm also not including the parents time off for sick children or vacations. I feel that it is unfair for the provider to lose money when they don't have the control to decide if/when the parents can go on vacation and no one has the control over when a child becomes sick. However, that is an INSANE number of paid days off that 99.9% of the American population would never have even after working at a company for 25 years. So, why should a daycare provider be allowed to do so? Not to mention the fact that most providers no longer have early or late service, which means they are open the exact times that a normal office is. How is it possible for me to get my child to you no earlier than 8am if I have to be at work at 8? And how can you expect parents to pick up their children by 5pm when most offices don't even close until 5pm?

If you want the vacation and holiday benefits of a regular business and you want to keep business hours, fine. Then you need to make sure you can hire employees to keep running the business when you are off. Normal businesses are closed only on the main holidays of the year. If you want to be off for every holiday and every day before and after and your vacation time, sick time, etc. then you need to hire someone to maintain the business or accept the fact that you don't get paid if you choose not to provide the service! What if every Verizon employee decided they wanted all these days off and Verizon chose not to hire anyone to maintain their business on those days? Would you pay for no phone service for that time? Or would you expect a credit? Verizon still gives their employees holidays off and vacation time, etc. but they are a service industry, as is childcare, and therefore they make sure to provide service regardless of whether or not someone is out for the time being.

If your stance is "this is a side-job/hobby and that's why I have the days and hours I choose" then again, it's fine. But that doesn't give you the benefits of working at a real business! If you can't afford to keep the schedule you want, then you can't afford to have that schedule. The same reason I choose to work full-time is because if I worked part-time it wouldn't allow me the $ to do all the things I want. That's your choice. Parents' shouldn't have to cover your financial woes.

I spoke to one provider who told me "but you aren't even paying me minimum wage". That's right, because you aren't giving my children 100% of your attention and care. You are splitting it with 6 other children. Therefore, the charge should be 12.5% of your hourly wage (this is for a provider who watches 8 children). Let's say (for math's sake) that my children are in your care for 10 hours a day. That means I pay (at the $35 rate) $3.5 per hour. If a provider has 8 children in their care per hour, that is $28 an hour - nearly 4 times the minimum wage. Why should I pay you for less than half rate care? If you want to be paid like a nanny, then go be one.

Lastly, the latest I've heard now was paid maternity leave. MATERNITY LEAVE?!?!?!?!? So, let's see, average maternity leave is about 6 weeks. I'm supposed to pay you $1050 (per child) and then go find another person to pay to take care of my child so that YOU can have a baby? And now that the child is born, that means you've now reduced the amount of attention you will be giving my own children, so the % of care is now 11.11% (probably more so considering they are a newborn and can't do anything for themselves, but that's a whole other issue).

This is getting absolutely ridiculous and it gives REAL providers a bad name. We had a wonderful in-home daycare provider who made sure that if she were sick, took time off, etc. that we had backup care provided in her home or else we DID NOT PAY! She's grown into three separate day cares now, so obviously she didn't lose any money for not charging us for that time nor did she go broke finding alternate care for the times she was out. She was open from 7am until 6pm - giving parents enough time to commute to and from work. The only thing we were charged for were the major holidays and if we took the kids out due to illness, vacation, etc. That's how you run a daycare.